A negative campaign mailer criticizing mayoral candidate David Alvarez is drawing attention not for what it says but for how it makes him look.

The pro-business Lincoln Club through its campaign committee paid for the piece that depicts Alvarez, who would be the city's first elected Latino mayor, holding a wad of cash in a manner that some say is similar to a gang gesture.

The photo is clearly doctored.

The Lincoln Club supports Alvarez’s rival, fellow City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, in the Feb. 11 special election to replace Bob Filner, who resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal last year.

On Friday, the Los Angeles-based progressive group Courage Campaign said the mailer uses “racist stereotypes.”

“This ad perpetuates the insulting, inaccurate notion that all Latinos are gang members, as opposed to educated, accomplished and hardworking members of our society,” the group’s executive chairman Paul Song said. “Alvarez has never been involved or associated with gangs in his life.”

Tom Shepard, a political consultant who has worked for former mayors Jerry Sanders and Bob Filner and candidate Nathan Fletcher, made similar observations earlier in an interview with 10News.

Acting on a request by U-T San Diego, San Diego Police Department spokesman James Johnson showed the picture in question to several gang experts.

“Based on their training and experience, there are no known gang gestures similar to those depicted in the picture,” he said.

Al Valdez, a professor at the University California, Irvine, with decades of law enforcement experience related to gangs, agreed.

“I don't see anything that looks like a gang sign. not even close,” said Valdez, who retired from the Orange County District Attorney’s office in 2006, where he was the gang unit supervisor “I find it funny. There's nothing there. I talked to two colleagues very familiar with gang behaviors and they agree.”

Other observers suggested that, regardless of whether or not that’s a gang symbol, the hand positioning is reminiscent of how a gang sign is flashed — and that it’s an unusual way to hold money.

Though the photos in the mailer are clearly altered and unflattering, Alvarez nevertheless is depicted wearing a tie and coat.

Lincoln Club spokesman Tony Manolatos denied the piece is in any way racist.

“It is absolutely not,” he said. “That is a picture of a politician who is taking millions and millions of dollars from labor unions. It’s all about that money, and that is what we are stressing. It made the point that Councilman Alvarez has opposed every financial reform that San Diego voters have supported.”

Alvarez campaign spokesman Stephen Heverly said the Lincoln Club “has always misled voters with their false imagery and misinformation.”

The text with the disputed photo, which was clearly altered like the others in the mailer, actually criticizes Alvarez for supporting a tax increase and says nothing about his support from unions.

The mailer calls Alvarez “Too Extreme” and points out he opposed competitive bidding for city services and a pension overhaul and supported a sales tax increase. All those claims are accurate.